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WAYLON LIVE: THE EXPANDED EDITION
(RCA NASHVILLE/BMG HERITAGE)
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This was considered a gem when it was released as a single LP in 1976, and again when a CD reissue added nine tracks 23 years later. Now expanded to 40-plus tunes on two discs, this memento of Jennings’s three-night run in Texas in 1974 is an even more impressive display of the quintessential country outlaw at his peak. Jennings, who died last year at 64, was clear-voiced and full of piss during these sets, which took place just as he and Willie Nelson were surging to superstar status. He offers fine renditions of several familiar songs penned by Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, and Billy Joe Shaver, as well as a version of Mel Tillis’s "Mental Revenge" that’s fiercer than his 1967 studio take and shows just how far he had come after grabbing control of his own recordings. Pedal steel guitar legend Ralph Mooney, who played with Merle Haggard and Buck Owens early in their careers, is the perfect foil for Jennings with his thoughtful accents and brief, action-packed solos. He also earns a rousing cheer in Dallas when Haggard introduces the band and says, "Show them the foot that made Merle Haggard a star, Moon."
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